For Caroline Danowski Burchill of Thorndale, cutting an album was a matter of now or never. “I didn’t want (the songs) to sit on paper anymore. It was my dream to do it,” she says.
The album, entitled When the Day is Over, is a collection of 12 original songs that Burchill has been writing for the last 30 years. The album also includes two cover songs.
“You just get so busy with working and responsibilities...but I saw a couple, who both had day jobs, record an album; so I thought, if they can do it, so can I.”
Burchill currently works as a rental manager at a series of apartments in London. “It’s demanding...not much room for music,” she says. Now that the album is done, though, she plans on taking more time for her music. “It’s so good for the soul,” she says.
No stranger to performance, Burchill has organized and played at a number of benefit concerts, supporting causes such as homeless shelters, food banks, and earthquake victims in Haiti.
“Another reason for doing the CD is because every time I played my original tunes anywhere, people would always ask me if I had a CD,” she adds. “That was the encouragement I needed to get it done.”
In total, it’s taken four years for When the Day is Over to come together. The album includes numerous contributors, including St. Marys resident Chris Campbell on harmonica, as well as guitar players, keyboardists, a violinist, a flautist, and Burchill’s own son, Martin, on the drums. Released in December, Caroline had an unforeseen complication arise when Mark Herr, the owner of the St. Thomas recording studio that was producing the album, tragically passed away after a battle with cancer. It took nine months for the bed tracks, which had already been recorded, to be transferred from Herr’s studio to a new one, The House of Miracles in London.
Finally, when the CDs arrived from Toronto on Dec. 1, Caroline said it was “the best Christmas present ever.”
“When you’re recording, it’s like waiting to adopt a child...you can’t stop, and you won’t get any peace until you’re done,” she says.
Burchill describes her sound as pop-folk, and cites Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Gordon Lightfoot, Sarah McLachlan, and Jann Arden as musical influences.
When asked which track is her favourite, she muses for a while before deciding on the title track, When the Day is Over, which was co-written by her mother. “She’s always written poetry,” explains Burchill. “I had this melody in my head, but I could never find the words. Finally, her and I sat down and wrote it.”
Caroline’s mother, Betty Danowski, is 81. Caroline says she’s “so proud. She’s just beaming. She tells everybody, ‘I co-wrote track 5!’”
The Danowski family lived on a farm near Thorndale.
Burchill is now in the process of promoting the album. On Friday, she drove to Tillsonburg where she was featured on both Easy101 and Country 107.3 radio stations. She’s booked to play the Images of Country show at Purple Hill Country Music Hall near Thorndale on Jan. 22, and her official CD release party will be held there as well on March 4 at 2 p.m. She’s also booked to play at The Black Angus in St. Marys on March 24, the London Music Club, also in March, and the Home County Folk Festival in London in July.
When the Day is Over can be purchased at Sassy’s and The Diva Gas Station in Thorndale, M&M Variety in St. Marys, and in Stratford at Earl Filsinger Music, Gentle Rain, and Video + Books. It’s also available on iTunes. Check Burchill’s website at www.carolineburchill.com for a full performance calendar and more purchasing options.